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Mr. ELIOT. Well, it is a very good child, and I am not ashamed of the offspring.

Mr. CHANLER. A question has arisen in this interlocutory discussion as to the appropriation for these school-houses.

The gentleman from Massachusetts asserted, if I understood him, that these school-houses which were built by the people of the South for the education of white children, were at one time taken by the Government away from the white children and that black children were put into those school-houses which were intended by the southern people for the education of white children.

Mr. ELIOT. No, sir; I did not say it in that way.

Mr. CHANLER. No, not in that way; but that was the effect of what the gentleman said. The gentleman asserted that these schoolhouses in which black children were being educated were taken from the white children. Mr. ELIOT. No, sir.

Mr. CHANLER. And now he proposes that an additional appropriation shall be made whereby the United States Government shall build other school-houses for the blacks along. side of those which were originally built for the whites.

That is the whole of his position, as I understand it, stripped of the verbiage with which it is clothed.

Mr. ELIOT. Well, the gentleman does not understand it at all.

Mr. CHANLER. Of course not; and it is impossible to understand a system by which the white population, robbed alike of their lands and of the system of education which they had built up for themselves, are to be taxed by this bill, as well as the people of the North, to sustain a Freedmen's Bureau raised for the purpose of holding the South in subjection to a political party. It is impossible to understand a system which links together with infamy a pretext of philanthropy.

Mr. ELIOT. Now, if there are no other inquiries which gentlemen desire to make I resign the floor.

Mr. STEVENS. I have here a letter from General Howard, dated the 10th of March last, urging the passage of this bill, and I have also here his estimate giving in full all the items.

Mr. KASSON. What is the date of his report accompanying the estimate?

Mr. STEVENS. The date of his report was the 19th of December last; and then in a letter, upon my application to him, under date of March 5, he increased the amount. The committee, however, have provided in this bill for the original estimate.

Mr. DODGE. Will the gentlemen allow me to ask a question of the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. ELIOT?]

Mr. STEVENS. Certainly.

Mr. DODGE. The estimate for transportation is $1,980,000. It was made in December last. I understand the gentleman from Massachusetts to state that there have been twentytwo thousand transported since that time.

Mr. ELIOT. No, sir; before that time.
Mr. DODGE. Before that time?

Mr. ELIOT. I suppose it was before December. I do not know. It was before, the time I made the inquiry.

Mr. DODGE. The average cost of transportation over five hundred miles on railroads is ten dollars for each person. An appropriation of $1,800,000 at the same rates would transport one hundred and eighty thousand persons. I suppose that since December, when this estimate was made, the occasion for the transportation of such numbers has very greatly diminished and it seems to me, therefore, that this item might be very much reduced.

Mr. KASSON. With the permission of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, I would like to say that we may essentially reduce the amount of the appropriation by a modification of the phraseology of the bill. For example, it is found that commissary and quartermasters' stores have, to a large extent, been already used by simply taking the material on hand.

Why, then, in lieu of this very large appropriation, should we not, by this bill, authorize a credit on the accounts of those departments, and the accounts settled at the Treasury upon the vouchers of this bureau?

It seems to me that we can avoid shocking the public mind, as it will be shocked by this large appropriation, larger I suspect than our pension list is to-day for the soldiers of our Army; we can avoid shocking the public mind, and more economically accomplish the necessary objects of this bill. We can give the protection which we are bound in honor and good faith to extend to this class of people, and at the same time reduce, very essentially reduce, the magnitude of the appropriations in this bill.

Why should we not also provide for the modes in which this money shall be expended, instead of leaving it without any limit to the discretion of the officers? If they are to use the machinery of the War Department, we should say so in this bill.

I assure the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. STEVENS] that my desire is equal to his or that of any other gentleman to do everything that good faith and honor requires of us for the protection of this class of the community. But I also greatly desire that we shall so frame a bill that by increasing the number of disbursing officers we shall not increase the liability to frauds and mismanagement. And by transferring the machinery of the War Department from one object to another, and the money from one account to another, we will accomplish the same purpose that we seek to accomplish by making this large appropriation independently.

A single statement further, and I have done. This bill runs from the 1st of January, 1866, to the 31st of December, 1866. Contrary to our usual custom, we are establishing a new fiscal year for this bureau. By the provisions of the act establishing this bureau, it is to expire in one year from the establishment of peace; and it is generally regarded that the proclamation of the President fixes that period. Now, we should do one of two things: either make this according to the recognized fiscal year; or else provide for the expenditures of the bureau until it expires by limitation of law. We should also provide for the proper securing of the titles to these sites for asylums and school-houses, and determine whether, and how, we shall keep them after the bureau ceases to exist, and if so, how long. These are important questions, which I think require further time for examination, and I hope the bill may be recommitted.

Mr. SCHENCK. I observe this clause in this bill: "for salaries of assistant and subassistant commissioners, $147,500." Now, if the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. ELIOT] is the father of the Freedmen's Bureau, I think that, as the step-father in one sense, I may claim to know something about it. The bill which is now actually the law upon the statute-book is a very simple bill in its provisions, and one which was got up in the committee of conference as a sort of compromise between the two Houses.

Knowing something of the history of this bill, I can state from recollection, without referring to it particularly, that among its provisions is one requiring that the Commissioner and sub-commissioners should either be appointed from civil life or might be detailed from the Army; so that officers already employed upon salaries paid by the Government can perform the duties of the bureau. That provision was the more essentially necessary, inasmuch as there was no appropriation made when the bill was passed for carrying out its provisions. In consequence of that provision pretty much all the work of the commissioners and sub-commissioners has been done by detailed officers of the Army. And unless it be for the purpose of keeping an account between the Army and the Freedmen's Bureau, so that the bureau shall be charged with the salaries of those detailed officers of the Army, I do not quite understand how it can be that $147,500 should be needed or expended in paying the salaries of these officers.

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I may remark that I say this as a friend of the bureau, as one who appreciates to the full extent the services of General Howard, its head, as one who wishes to sustain the bureau in every particular. But I think we should understand how it is that an appropriation should be called for so large as this to pay the salaries of commissioners and sub-commissioners, when, if I rightly understand the matter, in fact and in law, the business of the commissioners and sub-commissioners is performed mainly, if not almost altogether, by detailed officers of the Army, who draw their salaries from another fund.

Mr. STEVENS. So the Commissioner states in his report. But he also states that they are liable to be mustered out at any moment. He wishes, therefore, to be able to employ assistants independently of that altogether. This is all set forth in the report.

Mr. ROSS. I desire to ask the gentleman from Pennsylvania under what part of the Constitution he thinks Congress derives the power to build school-houses and educate the people of the South, taxing my constituents and his to pay the expense.

Mr. STEVENS. Under the law of nations, which is a part of the Constitution, and enables us to govern conquered provinces. [Laughter.]

Mr. Speaker, there has been much more objection than I anticipated on this side of the House to educating these poor people. I fear that some of our friends here still retain a portion of their old hatred of the negro. In view of the objection which is made, I modify my amendment and move to amend by striking out $3,000,000 in the item for schools and schoolhouses, and inserting in lieu thereof $500,000. On this amendment, I call for the previous question.

The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered; and under the operation thereof the amendment was agreed to.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was accordingly read the third time.

The question being on the passage of the bill,
Mr. STEVENS demanded the previous ques-

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nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

The question was taken; and there wereyeas 79, nays 41, not voting 63; as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, James M. Ashley, Banks, Baxter, Beaman, Benjamin, Bidwell, Bingham, Blaine, Blow, Boutwell, Brandegee, Buckland, Reader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Conkling, Cook, Dawes, Defrees, Delano, Deming, Dodge, Donnelly, Driggs, Eliot, Garfield, Grinnell, Henderson, Higby, Holmes, Hotchkiss, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, John H. Hubbard, James R. Hubbell, Hulburd, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Julian, Kelley, Kelso, William Lawrence, Longyear, Lynch, McClurg. McKee, McRuer, Moorhead, Morrill, Morris, Moulton, O'Neill, Orth, Paine, Patterson, Perham, Plants, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rollins, Sawyer, Schenck, Shellabarger, Spalding, Stevens, Francis Thomas, Upson, Van Aernam, Burt Van Horn, Ward, Warner, Whaley, Williams, James F. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, and Woodbridge-79.

NAYS-Messrs. Ancona, Baker, Bergen, Boyer, Chanler, Cobb, Coffroth, Cullom, Darling, Dawson, Denison, Eldridge, Finck, Glossbrenner, Grider, Aaron Harding, Abner C. Harding, Harris, James M. Humphrey, Kuykendall, George V. Lawrence, Loan, Newell, Niblack, Noell, Samuel J. Randall, Ritter, Ross, Rousseau, Shanklin, Sitgreaves, Smith, Stilwell. Strouse, Taylor, Thornton, Trowbridge, Elihu B. Washburne, Henry D. Washburn, William B. Washburn, and Winfield-41.

NOT VOTING-Messrs. Anderson, Delos R. Ashley, Baldwin, Barker, Bromwell, Broomall, Bundy, Culver, Davis, Dixon, Dumont, Eckley, Eggleston, Farnsworth, Farquhar, Ferry, Goodyear, Griswold, Hale, Hart, Hayes, Hill, Hogan, Hooper, Demas Hubbard, Edwin N. Hubbell, James Humphrey, Johnson, Jones, Kasson, Kerr, Ketcham, Laflin, Latham, Le Blond, Marshall, Marston, Marvin, MeCullough, McIndoe, Mercur, Miller, Myers, Nicholson, Phelps, Pike, Pomeroy, Price, Radford, William H. Randall, Raymond, Rogers, Scofield, Sloan, Starr, Taber, Thayer, John L. Thomas, Trimble, Robert T. Van Horn, Welker, Wentworth, and Wright-63. So the bill was passed.

During the roll-call,

Mr. ROLLINS stated that his colleague,

Mr. MARSTON, was detained from the House by sickness.

The result was announced, as above stated. Mr. STEVENS moved to reconsider the vote just taken; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

MEXICO.

Mr. LAFLIN, from the Committee on Printing, reported the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to:

Resolved, That there be printed of the message of the President of the United States and the accompanying documents on the subject of Mexico, under date April 23, the same number as is now provided by law for the printing of the general diplomatic correspondence.

Mr. LAFLIN moved to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was adopted; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

COTTON LOAN.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a message from the President of the United States, transmitting, in reply to a resolution of the House, a letter of the Secretary of State in regard to the rebel debt known as the "cotton loan;" which, on motion of Mr. KASSON, was ordered to be printed and referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

NIAGARA SHIP-CANAL.

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York, demanded the regular order of business.

The SPEAKER stated the business in order to be House bill No. 344, to construct a shipcanal around the falls of Niagara, and that the pending question was on the substitute of Mr. VAN HORN, of New York, on which the gentleman from New York [Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY] was entitled to the floor.

Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY. I ask leave to offer the following amendments:

Strike out sections seven, twenty, twenty-one, and twenty-two.

Add the following:

SEC.-. Be it enacted, &c., That before entering upon the survey or construction of this canal, the consent thereto of the State of New York shall be obtained, and said corporation and all its property and franchises shall at all times be subject to the laws of the State of New York.

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. Is that in order?

Mr. ALLISON. I only yielded to the gentleman to submit some remarks, and not for the purpose of offering amendments.

The SPEAKER. Then the amendments cannot be received.

Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY then concluded his remarks, begun when the bill was last before the House. [The entire speech will be found in the Appendix.]

The SPEAKER stated that the gentleman from Iowa [Mr. ALLISON] had ten minutes

of his hour left.

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Section twenty, line seven, after the word "payable," insert "in lawful currency of the United States:" also in line fourteen insert the same words; so that it will read:

SEC. 20. And be it further enacted, That the sum of $6,000,000 shall be loaned by the United States, in the manner and at the times hereinafter provided, to the company hereby chartered, and its successors, to aid in the construction of said canal, and shall be advanced and paid in the bonds of the United States in denomination of $1,000 each, payable in lawful currency of the United States in twenty years from their date, which said bonds shall be made and issued by the Secretary of the Treasury in the usual manner, and duly attested and dated the 1st day of September. 1866, payable at the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, on the 1st day of September, 1886, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually, in lawful currency of the United States, from and after the 1st day of September, 1866,

upon warrants or coupons to be annexed thereto,
signed by the Treasurer of the United States, duly
numbered and registered in a book to be kept by him
for that purpose. The said interest to be payable and
the said bonds to be redeemed out of moneys to be
hereafter appropriated by Congress.
Section twenty-two, page 21, line three, after the
word "thereof," strike out," after deducting the cost
of repairs and the expenses of operating and improv-
ing the same;" so that it will read:
tolls which shall be collected upon vessels, rafts,
SEC. 22. And be it further enacted. That from all the

floats, and property passing said canal, ten per cent.
thereof shall, on the 1st day of January in each year
after the completion of said canal, be paid by said
company into the Treasury of the United States,
which moneys, with the interest accruing thereon,
shall be applied toward the payment of the princi-
pal of the sum so to be loaned to said company, as is
herein provided, from time to time as shall hereafter
be appropriated by Congress.

Add to section twenty-three the following proviso:
Provided, That said rates of toll may at any time
be reduced and regulated by Congress.

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. I accept those amendments as modifications of my substitute.

Mr. ALLISON. Mr. Speaker, before entering upon the discussion of the merits of the particular bill now before the House for its consideration, I wish to say a word in relation to the general purpose sought to be effected by this class of improvements, namely, the opening up of new and the enlargement of the natural channels of communication whereby the agricultural products of this country may have a cheap and easy transit from their points of production to the markets of the world.

And the West will not be content until the obstructions in the way of successful navigation of this river are removed, the most material of which lie upon the borders of Iowa and Illinois.

We are told that we must find a home market by building up in our midst manufactures, and thus bring the consumers of bread to the doors of those who produce it. I will say or do nothing that would discourage the growth of manufactures in the West or elsewhere in our country, but by proper and prudent legislation encourage their growth, and to that end would welcome eastern capital seeking investment in that direction. Yet no one who has beheld and traveled over our boundless and fertile prairies can fail to see that this region is destined to become, if it is not now, the granary of the world, and with all the looms and spindles of New England and the forges and rolling-mills of Pennsylvania transplanted there we would still have a surplus of agricultural products that would be transported a long distance before a market could be secured. It is It is manifest that by whatever sum we safe to assume that the increase of population, lessen the cost of transportation, by that sum including immigration, will keep pace with prowe enrich either the producer or consumer of duction of cereals and breadstuffs, and the these products. I undertake to say that in the agriculturist will always seek the cheapest and aggregate there is no class of our people that most productive soils. It has been reasonably receive so little reward for their labor as those estimated that of wheat alone there will be who till the soil, and no class will be more produced at the beginning of the next century benefited by the class of legislation here pro- annually five hundred million bushels, and of posed than the agriculturist, inasmuch as we corn at least three times that number of bushhave for many years produced a surplus of els, one half of which will be produced in the breadstuffs which must be exported in some prairie States west of Chicago, and chiefly conform. The foreign market for this surplus sumed at points east of Buffalo, and must in affects the price of the product consumed at some form be transported thither. This canhome. Hence it is that the markets in Liver- not be done except through the improved natupool control, to a great extent, the price of the ral channels which nature has worked out by wheat, the corn, the beef, and pork at Chicago way of New Orleans and the great lakes. And or upon the farms of the West. Our farmers here I wish to correct an error in which the are thus brought in competition with the wheat- gentleman from New York [Mr. HULBURD] in growing countries of Russia, Egypt, and Tur- common with many others has fallen, namely, key, and whatever will cheapen the cost of that because of the nature of the Gulf stream transportation of the products of the farm will and the warm climate wheat and corn cannot aid the farmer until the demand at home or be transported by way of New Orleans. This abroad exceeds the supply when the consumer difficulty does not now exist, as by means of will be benefited. The States most directly elevators at convenient points on the river the interested in this subject are the great prairie wheat and corn can reach New Orleans in a perStates of the West, as they produce nearly if fect condition, from which it can be easily and not all the surplus cereals now produced in safely transported to any of the markets of the this country, as will be readily seen by a ref- world; and the fact is that the United States erence to the statistics upon this subject. exports wheat and flour to Portugal, Brazil, and Australia, and England imports largly from Turkey and Egypt; all this commerce being across the tropics subject to the climatic influences which prevail in the Gulf.

I mention these general facts in relation to this subject that the House may understand that the West will imperatively demand, and now, that this great river shall have removed from it the obstructions which hinder and impede its safe and easy navigation. This House has partially recognized his great want in the passage of the river and harbor bill, on yesterday, but the sums there appropriated will scarcely more than commence the great improvements demanded to secure the uninterrupted navigation of the Mississippi river from St. Paul to the Gulf.

In 1864 there was produced in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, one fourth of all the live stock produced in this country, amounting in value to $240,000,000, in round numbers; of wheat, more than one third, or 60,000,000 bushels; of corn, nearly one half, or 230,000,000 bushels; of cattle, 2,000,000, or one third of the whole product; and of hogs, 4,000,000, or nearly one third of the whole product. This. with a population of about three tenths of the whole population of this country. The surplus of this enormous product must find a market in New England and other eastern States or it must go abroad. I but state the truth when I say that our farmers are now being ground to powder between the upper and nether millstone of monopoly that requires for transportation to New York one bushel of wheat for every bushel transported from the Mississippi to New York, and two for every bushel of corn thus transported; and for this reason they are looking with intense interest upon our deliberations here to give them some relief whereby their toil may be properly rewarded. The measure now before the House I have no doubt will be of material service in the right direction. But it is not enough, and this Congress will fail in the discharge of one of its most important obligations to the country if it adjourns without passing an act to remove all obstructions now in the way of the safe and continuous navigation of the great river that threads itself midway between the oceans that mark our eastern.priated not less than $1,000,000 annually for and western boundary, running from the British possessions to the Gulf of Mexico. That is the natural highway for the commerce of the Mississippi valley, both to the eastern portions of our own country and to foreign markets.

In demanding these improvements we do not ask for the establishment of any new policy, but only a full recognition of the long-estab lished policy of the Government, often disputed, but as often asserted in the legislation of the country. The same grant of power to regulate commerce with foreign nations authorizes Congress to regulate commerce among the several States. This power has been asserted from the foundation of our Government, in making appropriations for light-houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers erected or placed within the bays, inlets, harbors, and ports of the United States to render navigation safe and easy, and for the last ten years we have appro

this purpose, without objection, in order to protect the foreign commerce of the United States, when in fact our trans-oceanic commerce does not amount to more than one tenth of our domestic commerce, and when the former

could not have existed for the last few years but for the productions of the food-producing States of this country.

Sir, the tonnage of the Erie canal alone amounted to more than the total tonnage transported to and from the United States for the years 1862 and 1863. The five States of Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota, lying west of Chicago, bordering on the Mississippi and on the lakes, furnished one third in value of the staples exported during the years 1861, 1862, and 1863. And here I shall take the liberty of quoting from an address delivered by a distinguished citizen of my own city, P. Robb, Esq., before a convention of shippers and merchants held at Dubuque, which sets forth in concise terms the value of this commerce to our country. He says:

An examination of the statistics fully establishes the additional fact that these five States during the years 1861, 1862, and 1863, shipped East one hundred and fifty per cent. more corn and meal, and twenty-five per cent. more pork products than were exported from the entire country during the same period. These States not only supply the export wheat of the entire country, but also the export corn and pork products. The contributions, therefore, made by Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Minnesota, and Iowa, to the exports of the United States in these three leading agricultural staples alone, are as follows: 1860-61. 1861-62. 1862-63.

Wheat............. $48,938.780
Corn and meal...... 6,387,160
Pork products...... 4,687,784

$44,187,148 $55,647,979

9,609,879 9,623,357 10,217,281 16,424,338 Total................ $60,013,724 $64,017,308 $81,695,674

"Excluding gold, silver, and bullion, which are hardly analogous to other products, and the entire exports of domestic products of the United States amounted in 1860-61 to $217,666,953; in 1861-62 to $190,699,387; and in 1862-63 to $260,666,110.

"The average exports of the country for the three years was $222,874,183 33, and the average exports which these five States contributed in wheat, corn, and pork alone was $68,575,568 66, or very nearly one third.

"In 1861, 1862, and 1863, the average yearly tonnage of all American vessels engaged in trans-oceanic commerce and entering the ports of the United States was 2,564,257 tons, and the average tonnage of all the vessels of all countries engaged in oceanic commerce and entering the ports of the United States was 5.341,867 tons. Now, the three staples contributed by these five upper Mississippi States to our exports were equivalent to 1,315,000 tons annually. They, therefore, not only contributed one third in value to our entire exports, but gave employment upon the ocean to more than one half of all our American tonnage, which was equivalent to one fourth of all the tonnage of all nations, our own included, entering the United States and engaged in the trans-oceanic commerce. History cannot furnish a parallel. But for the relief afforded by the productive industry of this section our national credit would have been seriously impaired, and ships must have rotted at their wharves."

I regret, Mr. Speaker, that I have not the time to quote more largely from this address, which is in itself a complete argument on this subject.

a competing line of communication, it will receive the support of the people of the western States and the sanction of their Representatives.

The gentleman from New York [Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY] finds fault with this measure because he can find in the Constitution of the United States no power to pass it; but if he will refer to the measures that have been at various times before Congress he will see that it has become the uniform policy of the Government to engage in these great works of internal improvement. There has scarcely been a Congress that has not in some form or another recognized this principle in our legislation. But the gentleman from New York [Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY] objects to this measure because it is within the State of New York alone, because it does not connect any two States, but the whole of the proposed improvement is necessarily in the State of New York. He seems to forget that it unites by water communication the great chain of lakes which float the commerce of many States and opens a direct communication with the ocean that bears upon its bosom the commerce of the world.

Now, I think this bill finds its sanction in many provisions of the Constitution, as in the power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States;" "to declare war," "to raise and support armies," "and provide for the common defense," "to provide and maintain a navy," &c. It is admitted that this measure will be one of necessity for the protection and defense of our northern lakes should we come in conflict with England.

But the gentleman says we are not likely to have a war with that country. Why, sir, upon the principle he advocates we cannot cast a cannon nor build a fortification in time of peace, because it is not necessary except as a war measure. We could not build a ship for the protection of our commercial marine because we are not engaged in war. I believe the true policy of the Government is, in time of peace to prepare for war. Therefore it is that whatever is necessary to control and protect the commerce of our great northwestern lakes and the States bordering upon them as a war measure, the Congress of the United States certainly has power to adopt, and it is the sole judge of the exigency which shall call for the exercise of that power.

But another objection of the gentleman is that it interferes with the proper local jurisdiction of the State of New York. The gentleman from New York will bear in mind that we are constantly interfering with the local jurisIs it possible that those who organized our diction of the States. We have done it in a Government intended to confine the power to marked instance in the passage of a national regulate commerce to that only which apper- banking law whereby we controlled the moneyed tains to our intercourse with foreign nations, interest and power of this country by the creaa power the most important in its creation and tion of national banks. By the operations of most extensive in its operation which can be- that act in the State of Iowa, which I have the long to any Government? Is it not certain that honor in part to represent, a State bank systhey intended to remove this power from the tem has been utterly destroyed. Under the disjointed and conflicting legislation of the constitution of that State a charter organizing States and place it under the auspices of aa general banking system in that State must be united and efficient Government, a power to be largely, liberally, and beneficially construed in furtherance of the great objects of Government, to be exercised prudently and wisely by the Congress of the United States, and to operate as well within the several States as upon our foreign commerce?

We are imperatively called upon now to exercise this power in behalf of the agricultural interest of the country in order to furnish competing lines for the transportation of their products, so that the corn of the prairies may reach New England and the East where it is needed for consumption and exportation, instead of being burned as now for fuel, We want these improvements to encourage the development of the great West, so that the. food-consuming States may have cheap bread and the farmer may receive an adequate reward for his toil.

And inasmuch as this bill has a tendency to diminish the cost of transportation by creating

submitted to a vote of the people, and we had a system there which had been thus submitted and passed upon favorably; and yet, under the national banking law, our State bank system has been utterly ignored and driven out of existence, and without the consent of the State Legislature. A national system has been established there in violation of our State policy. So that we do interfere with the local policy of States by our legislation here, and we have the constitutional power to interfere when it is necessary for the general interests of the Government, or to carry out specific powers granted in the Constitution.

[Here the hammer fell.]

Mr. INGERSOLL. I will yield five minutes of my time to the gentleman from Iowa to conclude his remarks.

Mr. ALLISON. I am certainly much obliged to the gentleman from Illinois. I desire to say one thing with reference to the policy of the State of New York on this subject of canals. I

say that the policy which that State has adopted is sufficient in itself to justify the Congress of the United States in interfering with it by the adoption of this measure.

I hold in my hand the Proceedings of the Canal Board of New York, wherein they report to the Legislature of that State that this Erie canal, which the gentleman says cost $100,000,000, instead of being a charge, has actually been a benefit to that State, and has placed in its treasury $9,000,000 over and above the money expended for the construction of the work, nearly all of which was levied as a contribution upon the grain-producing States of the West. And yet the State of New York proposes now, by its interference here, to prevent the westeru States from transporting their cereals across that State unless they pay tribute to that State in the way of tolls such as it may see proper to impose; and it is for that reason and to estab lish a competing line of transit that this measure is proposed, for the purpose of depriving them of this monopoly of transportation between the lakes and the sea.

I know, also, that the gentleman from New York, [Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY,] when a member of the New York Senate, introduced a bill for the purpose of enlarging the Erie canal, showing that he believed at that time, as every one but him now believes, that we do need additional facilities by which the cereals of the western States can be transported to the city of New York and to the markets of the East. How did he propose to enlarge that canal? He proposed to do it by means of locks, which were to pass vessels of six hundred tons burden, and to levy upon the commerce of the western States seventy cents on every ton transported through that canal, in addition to the tolls levied by the State of New York upon its own citizens to pay for its construction and enlargement.

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Now, the very fact that it has been the policy of the State of New York to compel the prod uce of the West to pass through the Erie canal or over her railroads, in order that she may control at will the commerce of the western States, and levy tolls upon that commerce, in itself a just reason why we should interfere and pass this measure, in order that Congress may have control over this national highway, connecting the lower with the upper lakes, and thus connecting the lakes with the ocean, which thus far has been to us an unknown sea. And in order to keep this question of tolls within the power and control of Congress, I offered the amendment to the twenty-third section of the bill, giving this control to Congress, in order that we may not escape from the rapacious jaws of one class of monopolies to be swallowed up by the voracious maw of another; and in the hope that this competing highway may be used to cheapen transportation upon all the great lines eastward upon which we now depend to carry off our surplus productions, and in some degree to meet the growing wants and expectations of an industrious, intelligent, and virtuous population, now numbering millions, who have cast their lot west of the great lakes and in the valley of the Mississippi. And here I wish to express the thanks of that people to the honorable member from Massachu setts,. [Mr. BANKS,] who spoke so eloquently on Saturday of the growing wants of this great nation, and to his colleague, [Mr. ELIOT,] for his earnest, persistent, and successful effort to improve the great river upon which we must largely depend hereafter for the transportation of our products.

Mr. Speaker, if we would keep pace with the growing civilization of the age in which we live, we must foster and encourage our internal commerce, by opening up new avenues, and improving the natural highways which Providence has carved out for us, and thus encourage every branch of our varied industry, and enable us with ease to meet the great responsibilities and burdens imposed upon us by the rebellion and war through which we have passed, and from which we have so triumphantly emerged. This improvement is

but one link in the great chain of improvements necessary to develop our great material interests, and raise this nation to the high and brilliant destiny that awaits it.

Mr. Speaker, the measure as it is now presented, I believe, has in it but few if any objec- || tionable features, unless it be the fact that it authorizes a corporation to construct this canal instead of providing for its construction under the direct auspices of the General Government. For myself, I would prefer that the Government should itself undertake this great work of material improvement, in order that it might be as the ocean, free for the commerce of the world; but I have no doubt that whatever we could do by ourselves we can do through the necessary and proper agencies we may create. That we have the power to create a corporation for this purpose was decided by the Supreme Court in the case of McCulloch against the State of Maryland, where it was decided expressly that Congress has power, where an object is necessary to be accomplished, to create the means by which that object may be accomplished, and that it may create a corporation as one of the means, if that is deemed the best way to accomplish the end sought to be attained.

[Here the hammer fell.]

Mr. INGERSOLL. Mr. Speaker, I remember with somewhat of pride that in the ThirtyEighth Congress I voted in favor of a bill of this character, for the construction of a ship-canal around Niagara falls, and also a bill to aid in enlarging the Illinois and Michigan canal, and after a considerable contest I had the proud satisfaction of seeing those bills pass this House by a very respectable majority. And I remember with what grateful feelings the people of the West responded to that action of Congress upon witnessing the exhibition of the generous spirit in this House which regarded not merely the interest of certain localities but the entire country. Early in the present session I introduced a bill providing for the appropriation of $5,000,000 to aid the State of Illinois in enlarging the Illinois and Michigan canal to the capacity of a ship-canal. And now, if it were not for fear of embarrassing the passage of this bill, I would offer as an amendment the bill which passed this House at the last session to enlarge the Illinois and Michigan ship-canal. But I feel certain that if we pass this bill for a canal around the falls of Niagara, it will be a step well taken in the right direction; and that having taken that step, the second step will casily follow, which will be the passage of the bill for the enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan shipcanal, and thus without embarrassing this bill we will secure the other also; and thus those two great national works will receive the sanction of the national Legislature. Complete these two great works and you will have done more to aggrandize the Republic than by any thing you have ever done, except it be the crushing out of the rebellion.

The gentleman from New York [Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY] objects to the passage of this bill, because he says that by virtue of a treaty now existing between this Government and the Government of Great Britain we can have but two war vessels upon the northern lakes and but one upon Lake Ontario, and consequently we cannot regard this measure as one of military necessity or as one required to provide for the common defense, as the treaty provides that we shall not enlarge our power upon those lakes. Now, let me remind the House and the gentleman from New York of what he no doubt overlooked for the moment, that in case a war should ensue between Great Britain and this country the provisions of all existing treaties between the two countries would be at once annulled, and we should then be free to exercise whatever power we might desire for our protection and self-preservation by building as many war vessels as we might deem neces

sary.

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Mr. INGERSOLL. I cannot, for my time is limited.

Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY. Only a moment. Mr. INGERSOLL. Not an instant; not an instant. I should be glad to, but my time is too precious.

These are some of the works that other nations have performed, where their interest was as nothing compared with our interest in this great project, either in a commercial or a military point of view.

The gentleman from New York [Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY] tells us that the tariff and tolls on the Erie canal have been wonderfully reduced. Why, sir, the Erie canal was completed in 1825. When did the first reduction take ace? Just about the time of the completion of the Welland canal, ten years later. That was made to some extent a competing canal, by virtue of treaties between this country and Great Britain. The New York Central railroad was completed in about the year 1840. That was another com

Now, if we build this Niagara ship-canal we will have it as an offset against the British power in the use of the Welland canal. And if war shall occur between this country and Great Britain they will at once proceed to build their gunboats on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, and move them with the greatest facility from one lake to the other, as necessity should require, through the Welland canal, which would be closed against us. Give us this Niagara shipcanal, and we could go to work in our ship-peting line. Other railroads sprung up over yards, in case of war, along the entire lake shores from Ogdensburg to Chicago, and build a fleet of war vessels which we could move with equal facility through our own canal and thus be prepared to defend ourselves in a manner which would be impossible at present. Thus, in a military point of view, this canal is indispensable to the Government.

And I say here that no civilized Government on the face of the earth, with such a chain of lakes within her borders, and with a foreign Power on her frontier, would have existed ten years without connecting those lakes by a shipcanal. And yet we have existed for eighty years without such a canal, though our fathers showed their appreciation of its importance, not only in a commercial, but also in a military point of view, by urging upon Congress the necessity of the work. Let us at once perform this work, which is so much needed by the commercial, the manufacturing, and the agricultural interests of the country, and which is so necessary for the common defeuse of the whole country.

Let us look for a moment at the nature of the work, and see whether its magnitude is such as should deter us from entering upon it. This bill provides for the expenditure of but $6,000,000, and that, too, in the shape of a loan, and that not in money, but in bonds to be repaid to the Government out of the earnings of the canal. Ten per cent. annually of the net earnings of the canal are to be returned to the Treasury of the United States. That is all this bill provides; and who is it who will say that that is not an outlay of credit that will pay the greatest rate of interest the Government ever received? In a few years every dollar would be repaid to the Government.

the country, connecting the East with the West; and in consequence of the competition created by these various lines of transportation the Erie Canal Company found it necessary for their business that they should reduce their tariffs and their tolls. Had not these competing lines been built there would have been no reduction, or next to none, either in tolls or in tariffs to the present day.

The Eric canal has been of incalculable benefit to the country. Had that canal never been constructed we would, in all probability, have had no magnificent West to-day. It opened, as by the power of magic, the way for enterprising emigrants to settle the West, and they were not slow to take advantage of it; and since the completion of that canal in 1825, the West may date the day of her onward march of prosperity and greatness. But the West needs to-day another canal, and further and greater facilities of transportation, more than she ever did the Erie canal; for unless these needed facilities of transportation be extended, the West will find herself worse off than though her population were less than half of what it now is and her agricultural products reduced in the same proportion, for we must have cheaper rates of freight for the transportation of our western products, or the industry of the West will be paralyzed. There will be no stimulus for agriculture, for the products of the farmer will not pay transportation to market. This state of things cannot last long. The West demands additional facilities of transportation. She will have them. If she cannot get aid from the Government, she will build the necessary works herself. And in order to perpetuate and promote a good feeling between the East and the West, and continue in that prosperity which has made the country rejoice, it will be the work of wisdom for the eastern and middle States to respond favorably to this demand of the West, for these States will be as much benefited as will the westerp States themselves.

Now, sir, in the early history of the Government, even John C. Calhoun, when he was Secretary of War, was in favor of this system, not of internal improvements, as some may be disposed to call them, but this system of national works, as necessary to provide for the common defense and the general welfare of the United States. Hear what he said in 1824, when Sec

We have looked upon the Chinese as a sort of semi-heathen people, never as a commercial people. But they have within their borders a continuous canal communication of over one thousand miles in extent. The Government of France, under the reign of Louis XIV, built the Languedoc canal, connecting the Bay of Biscay with the Mediterranean, rising to a summit level of six hundred feet above the sea; a work perfectly stupendous in comparison with this. In Holland we have an example of national energy and commercial enterprise looking to the welfare of the people that it would be well to follow. They built, more than forty years ago, a canal from Amsterdam to the Hel-retary of War: der, fifty-one miles in length, one hundred and twenty-five feet wide at the water level, twenty feet deep, with an average width at the bottom of thirty-one feet, in order that the commerce of Holland and the world might avoid the dangers of the coast navigation.

Great Britain on our own continent has set an example worthy of imitation in building the Welland canal and other canals in Canada for the benefit of commerce, and for the protection of her dominions in time of war.. The Caledonian canal is another great work built by the British Government in Scotland. It rises to the summit level over the rocky highlands of Scotland to an elevation of nearly one hundred feet. It is a ship-canal with twenty feet depth of water and with an average breadth of one hundred and twenty feet. This was constructed to avoid the dangers of the Pentland firth and

the Western islands.

"Let us bind the Republic together; let us conquer space by a perfect system of roads and canals."

These are precious words; they were uttered by Mr. Calhoun before he had become tinctured with secessionism or nullification, and I repeat them here to-day to his credit. Happy would it have been for him and for the country had he never uttered any sentiments at war with these.

Why, sir, had the Government of the United States, prior to the war of 1812, built a great national road from here to Detroit, would Hull have made his ignominious surrender? No, sir; because we would have had the means of transporting men, cannon, and other munitions of war for the national defense in sufficient numbers and quantity to have prevented that deplorable event. It was estimated in the last war that a single cannon taken from our foundries in the East to Detroit cost its weight in silver to get it there. Yet this state of things

the old fogies of ages past, though yet living, would continue if they be permitted to control the legislation of the country.

Let us avoid the errors of the past. Let us "in peace prepare for war." If war should come, and it may be not far distant, you will then say, "What a pity it is that we did not build the Niagara ship-canal when we were at peace." Then it will be too late; now is the time for action.

Now, sir, with regard to the commercial importance of this measure to the country, East and West, no language is adequate to do the subject justice. Why, sir, it is estimated that by this great work the cost of transportation on every bushel of grain will be reduced ten cents at least from Chicago to New York and Boston. Consequently, it will be ten cents increase to the producer and ten cents reduction to the purchaser. Suppose, then, we transport one hundred million bushels of grain per annum, which, in a few years, will be but half the actual amount transported from the Northwest. There you have $10,000,000 saved to the producer, and $10,000,000 saved to the consumer. As the honorable gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. BRANDEGEE] remarked, "the effect will be to make a loaf of bread in Connecticut twice as large and cost but half as much as at present," not that the hundred million bushels will all go through this canal; but the construction of this work will have the effect to reduce freight on railroads and other lines of transportation to that extent if not more. By this means we shall enhance the value of western and eastern industry more than twenty million dollars per annum, a sum exceeding more than three times the amount proposed to be loaned by this bill, in the shape of Government bonds, for the building of this great national work.

Sir, I have here statistical tables showing the immense advantages of this work, especially to the agricultural interest of the West and to the whole country generally. Why, sir, Illinois, during the last year, notwithstanding she furnished a quarter of a million men for the Army for the preservation of the Republic, raised one hundred and seventy-seven million bushels of corn. That noble State raises one fourth of the entire corn product of the United States, one fifth of the wheat, and one seventh of the oats, and sends to the New York market more beef cattle than all the other States together.

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But I will draw no invidious comparisons between Illinois and the other northwestern States. In proportion to their population and arable lands they do equally as well.

I will now give the House some statistics which will be instructive in estimating the importance of this work, and which will be of interest to the whole country. I read now from the report of Hon. W. J. McAlpine, late State engineer of the State of New York, in his report to the Legislature of that State in the year 1855. These are conceded to be reliable data:

Cost of transportation per ton per mile is: Mills. On the Ocean, long voyage...

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short voyage..

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Cost via the Niagara ship-canal and Lake Ontario: The distance from Chicago to Oswego, via the proposed ship-canal, would be eleven hundred and eighty miles, which, at two mills per ton per mile, would be.......

The distance from Oswego to Troy, by canal, is one hundred and eighty-seven miles, which, at four mills per ton per mile, for transportation, would be..

Add canal tolls, at three mills per one thousand pounds per mile, on wheat or flour.... Freight on Hudson river at two and a half mills per ton per mile....

Add Niagara ship-canal expenses, per ton......

$2.36

74.5

1 12.2

37.5 20

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Or more than one fourth of the value of the entire crops of the country. But these estimates of value are the estimated value of the various products in the States where produced. In this way the value of articles in the above States appears to a great disadvantage, because being so far from market, they are rated much less than the same articles in other States, especially those near the sea-board. The same is true of the estimated value of the live stock, which, on the 1st of January, 1865, was...... .$990,879,128

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273,363,730

Or more than one fourth. A juster standard by which to measure the productiveness of these States would

be a comparison of the amount of their respective products, since the value is so largely affected by the distance from market.

"The great staples of agriculture are wheat, corn, beef, and pork. Comparing these, we find that the total number of bushels of wheat produced in all the States and Territories in 1864 (except the cotton States, whose production was almost nominal, probably not more than one sixth of what it was in 1860) .160,695,823

was...

Illinois produced...

Missouri.

Wisconsin.

Iowa.....

Minnesota.....

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Or a fraction less than one half.

66,105,786

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Now, the distance by the lake from Chicago to Buffalo is one thousand miles; and the actual cost of transporting a ton of freight, according to the estimate of Mr. McAlpine, is two mills per ton per mile, or

Wisconsin Iowa... Minnesota.....

Or more than one third.

..7,072,591

2,526,979

13,070,887

4.896,506

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For a ton of freight from Chicago to Buffalo.... $2 00 The distance from Buffalo to Troy, is345 miles, which, at four mills perton per mile, makes the cost of transporting a ton from Buffalo to Troy......

Illinois contained. Iowa...

1 38

Missouri

Add canal tolls, at three mills per one thousand pounds, per mile... Cost of transportation per ton, on the Hudson, at two and a half mills per mile........

Minnesota..

2 07

Wisconsin

37.5

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Or about one seventh.

..1,711,951 674,913

..1,182,012

172,123 775,881

31,443,322

live stock, more than one third in number of all the cattle and hogs, and nearly one half of all the wheat and corn grown in the United States. Here we find four and one half millions of agriculturists along the upper Mississippi producing in a single year from one third to one half of all the production of the leading staples of an estimated value of $677,056,204.

4,516,880

"In the fiscal years 1861, 1862, and 1863, the United States exported 89,941,508 bushels of wheat and 6,997,470 barrels of flour, valued at $148,673,907. During those same years we shipped from the lake ports named 85,577,516 bushels of wheat and 7,530,893 barrels of flour. Reduce the flour to bushels and we have as the entire exports of wheat from the United States for the three years, 124,828,902 bushels. Shipments from the lake ports named for the three years, 123,231,981 bushels.

The contributions, therefore, made by Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Minnesota, to the exports of the United States in these three leading agricultural staples alone, are as follows:

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"Excluding gold, silver, and bullion, which are hardly analogous to other products, and the entire exports of domestic products of the United States amounted in 1860-61 to $217,666,953; in 1861-62 to $190,699,387; and in 1862-63 to $260,666,110.

"The average exports of the country for the three years was $222,874,183 33, and the average exports which these five States contributed in wheat, corn, and pork alone, was $68,575,568 66, or very nearly one third."

Thus it will be seen what the West has done in her giant strides within the past few years, and he who is possessed of a brilliant, volatile imagination may have some conception of what the capacity, the power, and the glory of this country will be a quarter of a century hence. We are apt to think too much of the present and not enough of the future. We legislate too much for the present and not enough with reference to the future. The wisest and most far-seeing man of twenty-five years ago did not even dream of the realities of the present day; and then shall this country a quarter of a century hence say the same of us with reference to our present legislation? Let us try to comprehend the vast resources of the country and the power of its people under favorable circumstances, to build up a republic which shall be the controlling Power of the world in an agricultural, manufacturing, and mechanical point of view. We have the richest lands and the richest mines, the mightiest rivers and the greatest lakes on the face of the earth, and if we but make a proper use of the mighty and inexhaustible means in our hands, we will be one day, and that not far distant, the greatest, wealthiest, most intelligent, and happiest people that ever existed.

Now, the State of Illinois alone numbers 2,250,000 people, and the group of States known as the northwestern States more than 10,000,000 people. Forty years ago they all did not contain more than 1,000,000 souls. Then Chicago was known as an Indian trading post; now it contains a population of nearly a quarter of a million, and is the greatest grain, lumber, and pork market on the globe. Why, sir, since that day a republican empire has sprung into existence, which contains within itself more elements of strength and greatness than any empire in the Old World, with perhaps the single exception of the Russian empire. We have already astonished the world, and if we continue to increase in the present ratio of prosperity, we will not only astonish but amaze the world.

Who can

with certainty predict the future greatness and glory of the Republic, when it is ascertained with mathematical accuracy that according to the present ratio of increase of the population of the United States, in 1870 we will number 42,000,000 people; in 1880, 56,000,000; in 1890, 77,000,000; and in the year 1900, 100,000,000.

Sir, if the country is not cramped by the beggarly parsimony of narrow-minded and short-sighted men, it is safe to assume that the increase of her agricultural and mechanical products will increase in the same ratio as her tire crop, more than one fourth in value of all the population. How totally inadequate, then, will

"Thus it will be seen that these five States, possessing only one seventh of all the population and one sixth of all the improved land, nevertheless in 1864 produced more than one fourth in value of the en

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